Vietnam begin AFF Cup training

On Sunday, the team started training in the southern beach town Vung Tau, attracting much attention from the locals. Since team members are not allowed to have contact with outsiders for Covid-19 safety, fans could only watch them from afar.

The training venue is Ba Ria Stadium, the home ground of V. League 2 club Ba Ria-Vung Tau FC. The stadium is 20 minutes from the national team’s accommodation.

To guarantee Covid-19 safety, the team didn’t talk to the press before and after the training session as before. The press was only allowed to record the first 25 minutes of the session.

The squad currently has 34 players, with the newest addition being keeper Pham Van Cuong. Coach Park Hang-seo will reduce the number to 25 for AFF Cup at the end of this training period.

In this first training session, Park let key players do multiple laps around the stadium to relax their muscles after two World Cup qualifiers in November.

The rest also warmed up with a little game of rondo.

After a few days of family time, players seemed to be in a comfortable mood.

Park also called up a few U23 players to add depth to the squad.

AFF Cup was supposed to take place in 2020, but was postponed until this year due to Covid-19. The organizers decided to keep the name AFF Cup 2020 for sponsorship purposes. The tournament will take place from Dec. 5 to Jan. 1, 2022.

Vietnam, the defending champions, are in group B with Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.